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Shelley sentenced to life in prison for 1969 McCabe murder

By Lisa Redmond, lredmond@lowellsun.com

Updated:
02/20/2014 05:01:34 PM EST

LOWELL -- After his 15-year-son was left to die, bound and gagged in a Lowell field in 1969, William McCabe, the boy's father, spent the next four decades searching for his son's killer and to answer one question -- why?

William McCabe, who died in January at age 85, didn't live long enough to see one of his son's alleged killers, Walter Shelley, 62, of Tewksbury, led away in handcuffs on Thursday to begin serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years after being convicted last September of first-degree murder in the 1969 slaying of John McCabe .

"Dad lived his life to find out who killed Johnny and why," the McCabe family wrote in an emotional impact statement read by family friend Heidi Allan at Shelley's sentencing hearing Thursday.

While they cherished the times when their father smiled, "his life and ours were ruined" by John McCabe's murder, Allan said.

While a first-degree murder conviction usually does not allow for parole, under a new state law based on a U.S. Supreme Court decision, anyone 17 or younger cannot be sentenced to life without parole. As a result, because Shelley was 17 on Sept. 27, 1969 when John McCabe's body was discover in a vacant field off Maple Street in Lowell, he will be eligible for parole after 15 years.

Defense attorney Stephen Neyman asked the judge to dismiss the case on the grounds that the superior court lacked jurisdiction. Kenton-Walker denied the motion. But a first-degree murder conviction comes with an automatic appeal to the state's highest court.

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O'Reilly said the defendants "cut short the life of a 15-year-old boy with no apparent remorse and no apparent fear of being caught."

When his body was found, McCabe's ankles and wrists had been bound by rope that was also tied around his neck. His eyes and mouth had been taped shut. A medical examiner ruled McCabe died by asphyxiation from strangulation. Prosecutor Thomas O'Reilly says that as McCabe struggled to free himself from the ropes, the rope around his neck got tighter until he couldn't breathe.

O'Reilly said the last vision the boy had was of a tape covering his eyes and his last sounds were of his own gasps for breath.

The case went cold for more than four decades until Lowell Police Detective Gerry Wayne reopened the investigation and cracked the case in 2011 with the arrests of Shelley, Michael Ferreira, of Salem, N.H, and Edward Alan Brown of Londonderry, N.H.

Brown, now 61, a retired 30-year Air Force veteran, risked his freedom to confess to the McCabe murder. Brown named his Tewksbury friends at the time, Ferreira and Shelley, as participating in the plot to teach McCabe "a lesson" for flirting with Shelley's girlfriend, Marla Shiner. In exchange for his testimony at the Ferreira and Shelley trials, Brown will plead guilty to manslaughter and serve no jail time.

After a multi -week trial in January 2013, Michael Ferreira was found not guilty of first-degree murder.

During Shelley's trial, Brown testified that hours before the murder, Ferreira and Shelley allegedly picked up Brown at his Tewksbury home, telling him they wanted to "get" McCabe because he was flirting with Shiner. There was conflicting testimony about whether Shelley and Shiner were dating.

After driving around Tewksbury, the trio spotted McCabe hitchhiking home from the Knights of Columbus dance in Tewksbury. They allegedly forced him into the back seat and Ferreira assaulted the teen. They stopped at a vacant field off Maple Street in Lowell, where Ferreira allegedly used his pocket knife to cut rope which was used to tie McCabe's ankles and wrists, and a rope from his neck to his ankles, Brown

Then Ferreira muttered something about "messing with Marla," Brown testified.

Brown testified the last time he saw McCabe alive, the boy was laying on his belly with his legs up in the air due to the rope tied from his ankles to his neck.

O'Reilly said that as McCabe struggled to free himself, the rope around his neck was slowly choking him.

After 45 minutes to an hour of driving around drinking beer, the trio decided McCabe learned his lesson.

Returning to the scene, Brown said Shelley and Ferreira got out of the car and went over to McCabe. They knelt over him and then quickly returned to the car. As they drove away, Brown testified Ferreira and Shelley were "frantic," telling him, "he's not breathing." Realizing McCabe was dead, the three made a pact never to tell anyone, Brown said.

Shelley also received a concurrent nine to 10 year prison sentence for his conviction of intimidation of a witness.

The McCabe family wrote in their impact statement that they are not vindictive, "but we want justice to prevail."

Since neither Ferreira nor Shelley testified at their trials, the McCabe family last week filed a $10 million wrongful death lawsuit against Shelley, Ferreira and Brown. As part if the civil action, Ferreira and Shelley will be required to give depositions, under oath.

McCabe, John's mother, told The Sun it isn't about the money, it's about the money, it's so the family can learn what happened and why, fulfilling William McCabe's last wish.

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